Well, this has been quite a busy year for me, especially given my move from the suburbs of Chicago, where I lived for 29 years, to the great Republic — um, State of Texas. And for those who are interested, here are some writing projects that bore fruit this year.
I edited a critical edition of W. H. Auden’s long poem For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, the brief Preface to which you can find here. There’s a short review of the edition here and a longer, more detailed one here.
I published The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography. You may read the introduction to the book here and reviews here and (briefly) here.
I do most of my periodical writing these days for my dear friend John Wilson at Books and Culture. This year I wrote, at some length, about
evolutionary accounts of storytelling;
a graphic memoir featuring James Joyce;
Sarah Losh’s mysterious and beautiful Cumbrian church;
Francis Spufford’s marvelous book Unapologetic;
American readers of C. S. Lewis; and
Thomas Pynchon’s new novel Bleeding Edge.
And I published an essay on “Auden’s Theology” in a collection called Auden in Context, the Kindle edition of which costs a paltry $63.20! It’s not too late for an electronic stocking-stuffer!
I hope that among these various writings you’ll find something that captures your interest.